Today there are many four wheel drive vehicles, sport utililty vehicles, station wagons and hatchbacks having a rear window that is pivotally attached at its upper edge to a framework that is part of the vehicle's rear entry means. Such windows are locked by means of a latch and hook type lock that must be opened using the vehicle door key and a handle located on the rear door. These windows open upward and can only be in one of two modes, the open position for access to the rear compartment of the vehicle, or in the totally closed position. Driving with the window in the open position is dangerous and not advisible, especially when there are children or pets in the vehicle. Many of these vehicles do not have rear side windows that open and therefore there is no means to create air circulation for effective ventiliation of the interior of the vehicle.
There have been attempts to solve this problem with devices that can be attached to the striker or latch portion of the rear window lock to maintain the window in a partially opened orientation.
Thorlton, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,551,738 has developed a rigid link-like device that can be introduced by hooking it into the U-shaped striker thus forming an extension thereof which engages the locking means. The device is introduced by a twisting motion which makes it difficult to remove once in place. The device does not fill the opening in the striker and the window can bounce slightly as the vehicle moves. Some strength and dexterity are required to insert and remove the device and it must be reintroduced each time it is needed since the window cannot be completely closed with the device in place.
Frayne, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,165,742 also teaches an extender for the striker. The device of Frayne must also be placed at the time it is needed and removed when not in use. This device consists of a U-shaped extender mounted in a solid body with a removable face plate. The body is placed over the striker, covering most of it, and the face plate held in place with a wing bolt. The U-shaped extender engages the locking means. This extender forms a rigid unit with the striker and the window cannot bounce when it is in place. However, the extender can easily be separated from the striker by turning the wing bolt and removing the face plate. This can be accomplised when the device is in place and the vehicle is locked. The device remains engaged with the hook portion of the lock, but the striker is free and the rear window can easily be opened to gain access to the interior of the vehicle.
A hinged, rigid extension means was developed by Baker et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 4,609,216 to maintain the cab door of a material handling implement such as a tractor in a partially opened orientation for ventilation within the cab.
An adjustable rigid bar having one end fitted with a lug and the other with a slotted blade, used to keep an automobile door partially opened when body work is being performed, has been disclosed by Rich (U.S. Pat. No. 4,593,946) and a similar, though non-adjustable device is taught by Acton (U.S. Pat. No. 4,322,103).
Adjustable devices have also been developed to keep the trunk of a car opened during transport of large objects. (Hannesson et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,667,993; Rashbaum, U.S. Pat. No. 4,278,280; and Glock et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,070,050) These devices maintain a considerable opening space and would not be practical for the pivotally opening rear window of a vehicle.
Since the lack of sufficient ventilation can be dangerous for a driver, there is a need for a device that can maintain a vehicle's pivotally opened rear window in a partially opened orientation. Such a device should not have to be installed when needed and removed when not needed, and should be easily utilized without any tools, and by anyone, even with limited dexterity. There is a need for such a device that enables the rear window to be securely locked in the partially open orientation so that it cannot bounce when the vehicle is driven and so that there can be no unauthorized access to the interior of the vehicle.